Our Team

Board

Katsuyuki Minami

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Katsuyuki Minami

Chairman & Executive Director

Mr Minami joined Sumitomo in 1994, and has developed a strong industry knowledge working in various divisions of their agriculture business. Through roles in marketing and strategy over a 20 year period, Mr Minami has accumulated experience across global grain and oils trading, including over 7 years working in the Australian market. Mr Minami joined the Emerald Board in 2018, after spending 6 years working with the Emerald business.

David Johnson

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David Johnson

David comes to us from Agrex Australia where, as the Executive General Manager – Grain, he has spent the last 18 months responsible for growing Olam’s grain business is Australia. Not long after completing his Bachelor of Agricultural Science, David joined the Victorian Farmers Federation as a Research Policy officer. He spent 2 years in this role and then joined the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), where he spent around 20 years in various roles. Starting as a Grain Merchant, spending some time as managing the export wheat pool business and finishing his time in AWB Geneva SA as the Managing Director. David broke up his time with AWB by having a stint with Ridley Agriproducts as the National Procurement Manager for about 2 years, as well as a 12 month stint as the GM – Client Services for Landmark Operations.

John Murray

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John Murray

Non-Executive Director

John joined Emerald Grain in 2013 to spearhead its transformation into one of Australia’s leading integrated grain trading, marketing, storage, handling and logistics businesses. John has extensive experience across Australian and international agribusiness including as Managing Director of publicly listed Ridley Corporation, CEO of Cheetham Salt and Group General Manager – International Operations with Elders Limited. John’s past experience as an Emerald Grain customer, a director of the Emerald Group Board between 2007-08 and a former member of the Australian Bulk Alliance board gives him an intimate understanding of the Emerald Grain business.

Nobuo Takesue

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Nobuo Takesue

Director

Nobuo Takesue joined the Emerald Grain Board in April 2014.

Mr Takesue first joined Sumitomo in 1990, coordinating logistics for imported grains in bulk and containers.

Throughout his career at Sumitomo, Mr Takesue has been active in commodity trading for wheat, barley and rice and expanded his career to managing foodstuff and fertilizer at the company’s office in Portland USA.

Mr Takesue currently works as the Deputy General Manager for the Grains and Oilseeds department at Sumitomo, based in Tokyo, Japan.

Hideki Hijiya

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Hideki Hijiya

Director

Hideki joined Emerald Grain as a Director in 2010. He has a wide range of experience in international grain marketing and has been involved in the grain marketing team at the Sumitomo Corporation for more than 25 years.

In recent years, Hideki was Project Manager of various international M&As in agribusiness across Vietnam, China and Australia. Hideki set up the first foreign invested wheat flour premix company in Vietnam.

Seiji Okamato

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Seiji Okamato

Director

Mr Okamoto has spent 23 years working with Sumitomo Corporation in Japan. Mr Okamoto first joined Sumitomo in 1991 working in the Credit Controlling Department after completing studies at Waseda University. Throughout his career at Sumitomo, Mr Okamoto has worked in a variety of senior management roles in the food, fertilizer, grains and oilseed industries. Mr Okamoto also enjoyed working as the Chief Financial Officer for Roland Kanazawa, a bakery company owned by Sumitomo. Mr Okamoto has been a Director of Emerald since March 2014, including spending 4 years on the Emerald Executive Committee in Melbourne.

Executive Committee

Katsuyuki Minami

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Katsuyuki Minami

Chairman & Executive Director

Mr Minami joined Sumitomo in 1994, and has developed a strong industry knowledge working in various divisions of their agriculture business. Through roles in marketing and strategy over a 20 year period, Mr Minami has accumulated experience across global grain and oils trading, including over 7 years working in the Australian market. Mr Minami joined the Emerald Board in 2018, after spending 6 years working with the Emerald business.

David Johnson

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David Johnson

David comes to us from Agrex Australia where, as the Executive General Manager – Grain, he has spent the last 18 months responsible for growing Olam’s grain business is Australia. Not long after completing his Bachelor of Agricultural Science, David joined the Victorian Farmers Federation as a Research Policy officer. He spent 2 years in this role and then joined the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), where he spent around 20 years in various roles. Starting as a Grain Merchant, spending some time as managing the export wheat pool business and finishing his time in AWB Geneva SA as the Managing Director. David broke up his time with AWB by having a stint with Ridley Agriproducts as the National Procurement Manager for about 2 years, as well as a 12 month stint as the GM – Client Services for Landmark Operations.

Michael Cole-Sinclair

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Michael Cole-Sinclair

Trading Manager

Michael Cole-Sinclair joined Emerald Grain in early 2015 and is responsible for leading its Australian trading strategy and overseeing Emerald’s team of traders. Previously, Michael was a senior trader with Bunge, where he worked closely with Bunge’s international team to service end users. Michael has a breadth of experience across trading, logistics and grain origination, starting out his career with GrainCorp and moving onto ABB/Viterra before his time with Bunge. He also had short stint in Canada with energy company Enmax.

Josh Whiting

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Josh Whiting

Chief Financial Officer

Josh has nearly 20 years’ experience in finance, treasury and risk management with leading Australian and multinational listed corporations, including nearly 10 years in agribusiness.

Josh has been CFO at Emerald since early 2016, and led the treasury and risk management functions since Sumitomo Corporation took control of the company in early 2014. Prior to his appointment at Emerald, Josh led these functions for ABB Grain and Viterra / Glencore’s Australian operations for 7 years.

Josh’s early career experience was in various banking roles, including senior front office trading and dealing roles, which included managing the Australian balance sheet of a major US bank, Bank One, prior to it’s acquisition by JP Morgan.

Josh is a Chartered Accountant, with a Bachelor of Law and Masters of Applied Finance.

Travis Anderson

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Travis Anderson

General Manager - Operations

Travis began working with Emerald Grain in late 2013 to manage the operations of Emerald’s grain terminal at the Melbourne Port. Travis was appointed to General Manager Operations in August 2015.

Prior to Emerald, Travis worked as a Site Manager with Wilmar Sugar (formerly CSR Sugar) at one of their eight sugar mills in North Queensland. First at Proserpine Mill and then at Plane Creek Mill (south of Mackay). Travis has also held roles with Australian Paper and Amcor in Operations Management roles across Melbourne.

Throughout his work in the sugar and grain industry, Travis has enjoyed working with growers and grower groups. Travis brings a great deal of skill and dedication to the business.

Helen Lukis

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Helen Lukis

Human Resource Manager

Supply Chain

Angela Mohr

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Angela Mohr

Safety Health & Environment Manager

Aaron Mato

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Aaron Mato

Aaron spent 8 years in the container transport industry in various logistics roles before joining Australian Bulk Alliance (now Emerald Grain) at the Melbourne Port Terminal in late 2010 as the Logistics Supervisor.

He was responsible for the receival and export planning of grain into bulk vessels, containers and country site outturns post-harvest.

In 2014, Aaron was promoted into the Assistant Terminal Manager and was responsible for the Operations team in executing the Terminals operations.

Aaron is now the Terminal Manager role and is responsible for all operations including Logistics, Operations, Safety, Quality and Customer Service.

Throughout his time at Emerald Grain, Aaron has seen constant changes and has enjoyed working through various challenges with the Terminal team and other Emerald staff within the Company to ensure a high standard of service is provided to its customers.

Travis Anderson

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Travis Anderson

General Manager - Operations

Travis began working with Emerald Grain in late 2013 to manage the operations of Emerald’s grain terminal at the Melbourne Port. Travis was appointed to General Manager Operations in August 2015.

Prior to Emerald, Travis worked as a Site Manager with Wilmar Sugar (formerly CSR Sugar) at one of their eight sugar mills in North Queensland. First at Proserpine Mill and then at Plane Creek Mill (south of Mackay). Travis has also held roles with Australian Paper and Amcor in Operations Management roles across Melbourne.

Throughout his work in the sugar and grain industry, Travis has enjoyed working with growers and grower groups. Travis brings a great deal of skill and dedication to the business.

William de Gabrielle

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William de Gabrielle

Asset & Maintenance Manager

Bill began with Emerald in 2013 taking on the role of Maintenance Supervisor. During this time he has spent many hours at Melbourne Port Terminal and country sites to understand the condition and history of the business assets.
Bill’s working life started as apprentice electrician with the Port of Melbourne Authority. Once completing his post trade qualifications he worked his way through different roles including Engineering Services Manager for East Swanson / Webb Dock for the Port of Melbourne Authority. Bill has applied his knowledge to operations across the globe including stints in Saudi Arabia, Philippines, North America, South America and Africa.
During his time at Emerald, Bill has introduced a Computerised Maintenance Management Package to record all business assets and set up preventative maintenance programs.
Due to Bill’s excellent management Emerald Grain has reduced reliability downtime on assets at throughout the supply chain operations.

Trading & Marketing

Malcolm McMahon

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Malcolm McMahon

Marketing Manager

Malcolm joined Emerald as General Manager, Merchandising in 2005. He currently manages the sales and marketing functions including key consumer relationships.

Malcolm has more than 35 years’ experience at listed Australian and International agribusiness corporations, including global exposure to commodity trading, finance, accumulation and marketing activities.

Malcolm’s executive career has included senior management and trading roles with Riverina Stockfeeds, Cargill, AWB Ltd, Grainco and Elders. Malcolm has previously held Non-Executive Chairman and Director roles in agribusiness and logistics companies, including Plantech, Seedmark, Pulse Australia, ABA and Bulk Terminals Australia. He is currently Vice President and Director of the AGEA (Australian Grain Exporters Association) and a director of PBG (Philp Brodie Grains).

Justin Bond

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Justin Bond

Chartering Manager

Justin joined Emerald in September 2014 as Chartering Manager. His key responsibilities include the provision of freight services for Emerald’s bulk and containerised CFR/CIF sales.

Prior to joining Emerald Grain, Justin was the Freight & Logistics Manger at Newcrest Mining and has worked previously with BHP Billiton, AWB and ANL in Freight Trading, Chartering and Logistics roles.

Justin has 14 years of freight/logistics experience and has worked both locally and internationally with time spent in London with ANL and Singapore with BHP Billiton.

Mick Commadeur

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Mick Commadeur

Commodity Trader

Mick joined the Emerald Grain in 2010. His key responsibilities include facilitating pricing and execution for hedging marketing strategies across Emerald’s wheat book.

Prior to Emerald, Mick spent four years working for ann agribusiness research firm specialising in investment analysis.
Mick grew up on an irrigated dairy farm in Goulburn Valley before moving to Melbourne for study.

Brant Laidlaw

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Brant Laidlaw

Senior Commodity Trader

Brant joined Emerald in 2008 as a Graduate Grain Merchant before transitioning into trading roles within the canola and wheat books. As Senior Commodity Trader he is responsible for the formulation of strategy and efficient execution across origination, sale and hedging activities of the wheat book in domestic, bulk and container export markets.

Brant grew up in Kerang in northern Victoria, moving to Melbourne for his University studies in 2004.

Kieran Quinn

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Kieran Quinn

FX & Treasury Markets Trader

Kieran joined Emerald Grain in 2012. His key responsibilities include trading the foreign currency and interest rate exposure of the commodity books. This includes taking active participation in directional moves as well as structuring the most efficient hedging strategy through the combination of various derivatives.

Kieran has both local and international experience, having worked with NAB for eight years both in Sydney and the UK. While at NAB, Kieran’s role included structuring and trading both commodity and FX related derivatives.

Richard Wood

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Richard Wood

Commodity Trader

Richard joined Emerald as a Commodity Analyst in 2011. His key responsibilities include facilitating pricing and execution for hedging and marketing strategies across Emerald’s barley book.

Prior to Emerald, Richard worked for Westpac in the Agribusiness Risk Management division for four years.

Richard grew up on a mixed livestock and cropping property near Wakool in South Western NSW, he moved to Melbourne to pursue his studies at the University of Melbourne.

Brad Cullen

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Brad Cullen

Brad Cullen grew up on the family farm at Manangatang before attending Dookie College in 1997. After University, Brad worked for the AWB in grower services before heading overseas and accepting a risk management role with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London. After 12 months overseas he returned to AWB to a role with a grain marketing focus for two years and then moved to the Landmark side of the business as a Rural Finance Manager for 3 years in Horsham. He then returned to the farm at Manangatang for 2.5 years, whilst also running a grain brokerage business for local farmers. Brad brings to Emerald a genuine love of the Mallee tempered with the professional know-how needed to look after your agribusiness.

Lee Hodge

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Lee Hodge

Supply Chain Manager

Lee Hodge joined Emerald Grain in June 2013. Lee’s role as Logistics Manager involves the management of road and rail domestic and export logistics covering SNSW, VIC, SA and WA. Prior to this Lee was involved in the shipping and malting industry leading a team with responsibilities including the management of a national logistics programme and the export of bulk container shipments into Asia.

Dick McCagh

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Dick McCagh

Dick was born and raised on a wheat and sheep farm in the Mullewa area, he left the area in 1991 and since then has had various roles in the agricultural industry. Dick has worked closely with many clients and his previous roles in Agchem and fertiliser hold him in good stead for his current role. Dick joined Emerald Grain in 2009 as a Grain Merchant and in 2013 accepted the position of General Manager WA

Brad Weier

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Brad Weier

Brad joined the Emerald Grain team in July 2012 after 19 years working within the finance industry. During this time, Brad worked extensively with clients involved within the rural and commercial sectors. Brad is now following in the footsteps of his father Keith, servicing the diverse network of growers operating in the Southern Downs region.

Michael Cole-Sinclair

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Michael Cole-Sinclair

Trading Manager

Michael Cole-Sinclair joined Emerald Grain in early 2015 and is responsible for leading its Australian trading strategy and overseeing Emerald’s team of traders. Previously, Michael was a senior trader with Bunge, where he worked closely with Bunge’s international team to service end users. Michael has a breadth of experience across trading, logistics and grain origination, starting out his career with GrainCorp and moving onto ABB/Viterra before his time with Bunge. He also had short stint in Canada with energy company Enmax.